The efficiency and effectiveness of certain medical procedures can be considerably enhanced if that portion, or those portions, of the patient's anatomy requiring treatment can be quickly and accurately positioned and comfortably supported during successive treatments. This need to be able to accurately to position, and successively reposition, a portion of the patent's anatomy and then maintain it virtually motionless is exemplified by considering a series of radiation treatments. The radiation beam must be projected to an exact location, sometimes interiorly of the body. Such a radiation beam must be most accurate in order not to inflict damage to the tissues surrounding the area to be treated, and as a result there is little margin for error. Not only must the radiation beam be projected accurately toward a particular spot on the body surface, the body must also be precisely oriented to effect the required alignment of the radiation beam from the surface of the body to the interiorly located tissue being treated. Moreover, once the patient is positioned and aligned he/she, must remain as motionless as possible. Radiation treatment generally requires repeated exposures over a period of several weeks. Thus, the difficulties are compounded without a template by which medical personnel can quickly and accurately reposition and support the patient during successive treatments in exactly the same position as initially determined.
Previously, standardized forms have been used which approximate the size of selected portions of the human anatomy. A foam is poured into the form, the patient is positioned within the form, and the foam rises around the contours of the patient and is restricted by the walls of the form. This approach is deficient in that these forms are available in a limited number of standard sizes, typically only pediatric and adult, and, therefore, are not always suitable for a particular patient. Further, the mere size of the standardized forms makes it impractical for a healthcare facility to stock an adequate quantity of numerous sized forms.
Based on these deficiencies, I developed the invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,185 as a "Method and Apparatus for Molding and Accurately Repositioning Selected Portions of the Human Anatomy", the substance of which is herein incorporated by reference. The device disclosed in that patent consisted essentially of a base containing a plurality of orthogonally disposed grooves or slots. A plurality of slats are provided for removable insertion into the grooves. The slats are cooperatively aligned to substantially encompass the area immediately around that particular portion of the patient's anatomy for which a template is to be formed. A flexible container or bag is placed within the area defined by the slats and a predetermined amount of foam is placed therein. The portion of the patient's body to be molded is placed over the foam filled container and the foam expands around the selected portion of the patient's body. This apparatus and technique is highly versatile and has enjoyed widespread acceptance in the medical community but has limited usefulness when portions of the body are to be elevated. Based on the limitations and deficiencies of the prior art, my invention is herein presented.